


Summer's End

by Vizkopa



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-18
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-21 08:54:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4822904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vizkopa/pseuds/Vizkopa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“If this was only temporary, why does it hurt so much to hear you say goodbye?"</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer's End

The sky was on fire with hues of red and purple. They would be leaving soon, and I had to see him before they set sail.

I found him lying beneath a tree, one arm behind his head and staring up into the branches. When the leaves fell – flashes of red and orange and yellow like flames – he would raise a hand and burn each one to a crisp before they could hit the ground, disintegrating into ash to be swept away by the wind.

“Careful, you might set the whole village on fire.”

He started at my voice, drawing him out of his daze. While he was distracted, a lone leaf slipped past his guard and landed on his face. I laughed as he blew it away angrily before sitting up and giving me a sheepish grin.

“Shouldn’t you be helping with the preparations,” I chided, setting down next to him.

His face turned sombre, but I could see the excitement in his eyes. “They’re done. It’s just a matter of hours until the log pose sets. Still not soon enough.”

I looked away. “Eager to set sail, I see…”

He picked up on my strained tone. “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that… I’d love to stay, really. But—”

“You’re a terrible liar, Portgas D. Ace,” I chuckled. “I know how much you miss the sea. Just promise me you’ll come back one day, alright?”

“Of course!”

I nodded, satisfied, and turned to the falling leaves. “Still, we’ll miss you. All of you. Although our wine cellars certainly won’t. It’ll take years for them to recover, surely.”

“Thought you were going to get all sentimental on me there. You ruined it though.” He shuffled closer until I could feel the heat of his skin against mine, pleasant in the cool autumn air. “Admit it. You’ll miss me.”

“Perhaps.”

He wasn’t satisfied with that answer. “Perhaps? What, no begging me to stay? No pleas to take you with us?”

“We both knew from the start this would be temporary. No use in me getting emotional when I’ve known for months this day would come.”

He clutched his chest and gave me a dramatic, pained look. “Ah, so cold.”

I chuckled. “Well, it’s a good thing you’re made of fire,” I said with a smile as I leaned in and gave him a chaste, lingering kiss. 

I pulled back and searched his eyes, hoping to find something I knew I’d never see. He didn’t love me; that much I knew. There was attraction, yes, but not love. With time, perhaps, but time was the one thing we didn’t have. Nothing more than a summer fling, born of boredom and wine, and now summer was long over and so were we.

“Goodbye, Ace,” I said.

He slowly shook his head. “If this was only temporary, why does it hurt so much to hear you say that?”

I smiled wanly. “Because I have the feeling this goodbye is forever.”

I watched them sail away, and as the cold air sapped the last vestiges of his heat from my skin, so did the last of summer’s heat leave with them.


End file.
